ramble

• Kevin asked me what I was writing a blog post about. I responded with, "um, the same thing I always right about?" Nothing. I mean not a lot of profound things going on these days. Just life. And I guess thats pretty good?
• It was late at night, way past my bed time. But Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives was on, so of course I was sucked in. And they were making pizza. Oh man, if there had been a party pizza in my freezer I would have eaten the whole thing. So many things to be ashamed of right there, but whatever. I like party pizzas. 
• The next day, at a more normal hour, I was clearly thinking again so of course I bought a pizza stone and was on a mission for the perfect thin crust pizza. That's totally normal right? 
• The girls have been struggling leaving every other weekend, so we have been making friendship bracelets so they don't feel so far away. and because we are friends and stuff. The problem with little girls and bracelets is that, well they didn't last the weekend before they were all lost. Except mine, I still have mine. Can you guess what color Ruby chose? Green. I know your shocked.
• We have officially detoxed the entire house this week. We had the flu that rocked everyone's world the last few days. You know whats worse than Ruby laying on the floor, moaning and whining all afternoon? Henry projectile vomiting. Or maybe Stella near hysteria all day because that's how she copes with nausea. I'm freaking exhausted.
• Kevin is out of town this week, so I put the kids to bed at 7:30 and tucked myself in at 8pm. Is that sad? Kinda. But kinda awesome.
• Also, I found a banana lounger (you know those lounge chairs that fold in thirds and are stretchy? No? you should they're awesome.) at Target and I'm so excited. My mom used to have  one that she would pull out on the driveway behind the garage and lay out while we road our bikes around her. That right there is a stay at home mom perk. Win. My tan will be awesome.
• Ruby learned how to ride her bike without training wheels and when she tells you about it, it goes like this: "I ride my bike without training. ALL. BY. MY. SELF!!!!
• and I found these photos on my camera that I took a few weeks ago. taking photos of all of them together. Oh jeez.  

this pretty much shows how it is at our house. all. day. long. 

oh Hey Gus. He's always smiling. Unless he is puking, then he's not smiling. 

love love

Church with the Brimhalls

This concludes our vacation to Denver, and then I will go back to posting about the nothingness that is our life at home. Maybe your sad? 

Before loading the three small children in the car for the 8 hour drive home, we were able to be go to the baby blessing of Claire. Oh she is sweet. And a really, really great baby. Most of the time I kind of forgot she was part of the chaos. And she has the most fantastic hair. It doesn't appear she got it from the Brimhalls...

Again, Piper is stone cold. I couldn't get that little girl to smile at me for anything. Seriously. I was bribing her with candy and she was icing me out. Next time Piper, next time.

Just two years ago, Jan and Richard didn't have any granddaughters. Now they have 4, and it's a lot of squealing chaos.

It's cute that Bryan was standing on his toes...

 Oh these boys of mine... I love.

Cami and Marc, this is such an original pose! Get that baby here so you can start juggling something in photos. (baby boy arriving in September, although i'm not sure where she's hiding him.)

Thanks so much Bryan and Niki for letting us come and visit! Let's do it again!

Right after the blessing we piled back in the car for our trek home. It would have been a great trip home I'm sure of it. But Ruby came down with the flu and I spent most of the drive home jumping to the back seat to catch her puking into a cup. Doesn't that sound like the most glorious 8 hours of your life? The poor thing. She's feeling better now, but the rest of the house has come down with it. Nothing like recovering from a vacation and the flu. I'm trying not to blame you Denver, but kinda, it's your fault that I have a baby puking in my face and a child laying on the tile floor moaning loudly. I'll still come visit though. Maybe. 

love love

Animals are weird.

Arguably the highlight of the trip was the zoo. Oh the Denver Zoo, you put our poor Hogle to shame. The weather was so fantastic, the sun was shining and everyone was so excited to be there. The kids loved it! OK and so did Kevin. Probably the most. Bryan assured us that they had never gotten through more than one section of the zoo in a day. Oh we got through it, I pretty sure at least 90% of it. 

Also, I took 700 hundred photos at the zoo and it's my blog, so I'm going to dump them all here. Ok not all of them, but a lot. Like seriously. 

Richard is into birds, they call him the bird man of Grandview hill. Or just his kids do. There were a lot of freaking birds. He was overly excited. It's weird.

Hey Cute Face!

Ruby did not like the Komodo Dragon. Not at all. Can you really blame her? They are weird.

Gus's hair is white. In case you were wondering. 

Do not mess with a goose and her eggs. Or a Tiger. 

Look it's a Lorax and kind of a Henry. 

I stand corrected Hogle Zoo, that weird looking animal you have on your carousel does exist. Meet the Okapi. It's totally weird. 

These little girls played so fantastic!

These Flamingos are weird. They were charging around in complete unison squawking. And then a bird pooped on my head. Thanks Cami for cleaning it out! Stupid Bird. 

Ruby chased this goose around for a long time. She has no fear. Seriously. She was so close to getting it. 

We fed the birds! Ruby's favorite was the bird named Ruby. Go figure. 

Ash- The zookeeper said these birds are all over Australia. So Stella kept saying they were playing with Will's birds, and that he was so nice to share. 

Micall, what is this thing? Freaking bizarre and weird. Animals are weird. 

Look Richard likes Kevin!

Oh Piper, I love you!

ROAR!

You guys really just like all the sarcastic remarks don't you?

Don't worry there are still more blog posts to come from Denver!

love love

swimming pools and movie stars

After the baseball game we decided that it was the kids turn to enjoy some fun. They were hanging out at home while we were eating peanuts and cracker jacks. And the girls were with Mimi and Bampa Kenny getting spoiled rotten. So on Friday we let them go swimming at our hotel. Because what vacation happens without the token swimming in the hotel? It goes hand in hand with licorice on a road trip. Required. The pool was the size of a large bath tub and if you ask Stella what her favorite part of the vacation was, swimming would be it. Go figure. And what is it about swimming with Dad's that makes it so much more fun than swimming with Mom's? Maybe it's that they get thrown around like balls instead of being told to be careful. Dad's for the win!

// Gus was a little indifferent about the pool...//

 // I took nearly 1500 photos this weekend and I couldn't get Miss Piper to smile at me for anything. But she would smile at Kevin. He is nicer than me, so I understand//

 // Life jackets in the pool make everything so much easier.//

 // The water was a little cold for Ruby//

 // But the hot tub was nice and warm for Henry//

 // See what I mean, Dad's at the pool are so much fun! Jan was in the corner telling them to stop the entire time...//

 // Piper kills me. I love everything she's got going on.//

 // Claire wasn't to keen on the noise waking her up, clearly.//

 // The girls could have been thrown into the pool over and over again for days. //

love love